Lawsuit: Shopper’s Imprisonment In Walgreens Store Led To His Death

A Florida woman is suing Walgreens after she says her husband’s unlawful imprisonment in an Orange County store ultimately led to his death.

According to the lawsuit, reported by Courthouse News, the woman’s 69-year-old husband visited the restroom of his local Walgreens, and then headed for the store’s exit. He was approached by employees, the complaint says, who told him to “stop walking and wait for us.”

The widow claims the workers ordered her husband to follow them back to the bathroom, and told him he had to clean it because he “left a mess,” and left feces all over the bathroom.

“Walgreens, with the purpose of imposing a confinement in the restroom facilities of the Premises against [the man’s] will, imprisoned [the man] and forced him to clean the restroom facilities and mop the floor,” the complaint says.

The woman says her husband was a regular Walgreens customer and that store employees were aware of his various physical ailments. The complaint accuses the workers of holding him for 20 minutes, during which time the man was “humiliated, disgraced and injured in his feelings, emotionally and mentally.”

Although the complaint doesn’t specify how or when the man later died, his wife is putting the blame entirely on Walgreens.

“Walgreens’ conduct was intentional and reckless, outrageous … [and] caused [the man] emotional distress, and the emotional distress was severe that resulted in the death of [the man],” the complaint says.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages on claims of false imprisonment, intentional infliction of severe emotional distress, and loss of consortium.